Annual Report 2006 - Boehringer Ingelheim

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In our Animal Health business, with growth of
10 %, we further reinforced our No. 10 position
internationally and thereby secured a market
share of 3 % in this highly competitive market.
We considered growth of 1 % for our Consumer
Health Care (CHC) as unsatisfactory. The main
reason lies in the restrained development of our
business in Japan, which, in addition, suffered
from the marked depreciation of the Japanese
yen. We expect the acquisition at the end
of 2006 of the medication zantac® in the USA
to give us strong growth in CHC business in
this market in 2007.
We anticipated the 8 % decline in turnover in
the Biopharmaceuticals segment, as the previous
period had been positively affected by certain
extraordinary factors (2005 growth in this
segment amounted to 40 %).
In the business area PM we further extended
the market position of our main sales generators
spiriva®, flomax® and micardis®. In these
products Boehringer Ingelheim now has three
medications with sales volumes exceeding
USD 1 billion. spiriva®, one of the most prescribed
medications for the treatment of chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), achieved
the strongest growth with a 45 % increase on the
previous year. micardis®, a medication for the
treatment of hypertension, achieved growth of
34 %, which underlines the strength of this
medication in this highly contested market
segment. micardis® has thereby met our expec-
Boehringer Ingelheim A n n u A l R e p o R t 2 0 0 6
tations and we assume that it has further growth
potential that can gain additional momentum on
publication of the results of the ontarget
study in 2008. flomax®/alna®, a medication for
the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia
(BPH), achieved sales growth of 28 %. This
growth is primarily attributable to its market
success in the USA, where it holds a market share
of around 57 %. We expect another important
turnover driver from the 2006 market approval
for sifrol®/mirapex® in the indication restless
legs syndrome (RLS) in both Europe and the USA.
The generic competition for our mobic® in the
USA had been anticipated, but some months later
than it actually happened. For the first time, the
US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted
market approval to 14 applicants simultaneously,
which immediately after they entered the market
led to a dramatic decline in prices.
As in previous periods, the positive influence of
our concepts Value through Innovation (VTI)
and Lead & Learn was of importance in 2006.
Both have continued to play a decisively
formative role in our corporate culture and are
a significant basis for successful cooperation at
Boehringer Ingelheim. With a series of projects
we have ensured that these principles will
continue to be translated into reality so that
we can thereby also successfully meet the
challenges of the future.